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CBC
5 days ago
- Climate
- CBC
Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation pauses evacuation as 'favourable winds' keep wildfire at bay
Winds shifting in a positive direction have a northern Manitoba First Nation pausing its wildfire evacuation, meaning nearly a third of the community will stay put for now — though that could change if the outlook worsens again. About 2,500 Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation residents were forced to leave over the weekend as wildfire threatened the only road into the community, located about 600 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. Others were expecting to leave, but conditions have improved slightly and as a result evacuations have been paused. "We're delaying the evacuation until further notice until we get more updates in terms of what's happening with the fires," NCN Chief Marcel Moody told CBC News on Tuesday. "The winds have shifted in our favour, and hopefully we get rain." Moody said the decision was made late Monday afternoon after a briefing with provincial wildfire officials. The improved situation means the roughly 1,300 people on evacuation alert who remain in NCN can stay for now, said Moody. He said many evacuees are in Winnipeg, where they'll remain for the time being. "Right now the situation is a little bit better than Saturday and that's the reason why we evacuated our people starting Saturday, but the situation has improved but it could get worse very quickly too." "It really depends on what's happening. Hopefully we want to get our people back as soon as possible, but for the most part I think we want to keep them there until we have the situation under control." Manitoba is in the midst of its worst wildfire season in about three decades and remains under a provincewide state of emergency. Manitoba's wildfire services map suggests there are at least two wildfires burning north of Nisichawayasihk, with one having grown to more than 46,000 hectares by Sunday. Wildfires have produced one of the smokiest years on record in many parts of Manitoba. Much of the north and central parts of the province were under air quality warnings on Monday. Moody said there is a fire guard set up in an area near NCN to help stop or slow the fire from creeping closer to the community. "The risk has been minimized I think, but you never know," said Moody. '"It's mostly the smoke that we're concerned about in our community ... We don't know [what] the long-term impacts of smoke is going to be on our people but I imagine it's not very good."
Yahoo
03-08-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Wildfire, smoke forces evacuation of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation
Wildfires in northern Manitoba are forcing thousands of residents from a First Nation out of their homes over poor air quality and concerns that flames might engulf the only road access to the community. Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (NCN) was put under a mandatory full evacuation order on Saturday. Deputy Chief Marcel Moody told CBC News roughly 300 priority residents — including seniors, children and people with underlying health conditions — have so far left Nisichawayasihk for Winnipeg. "I've never seen anything like this in my entire life," Moody said. "The smoke situation has been terrible all summer … it gets worse at certain times, and we are scared the road might be closed." By Sunday morning, more than 3,000 residents were still in Nisichawayasihk. The expectation is most of the residents waiting to be evacuated will be out in the coming days. "We want to do this as quickly as possible to make sure that nobody is stuck," Moody said. "It's a tough task, but we have to do it." One of the closest wildfires is burning about half an hour away from the Nisichawayasihk, Moody said, and there are fears wind might fan the flames toward the road that connects the community with Thompson, about an hour's drive away, and engulf Highway 391, the only land access point in or out. Closure of the road because of the wildfire has already slowed down the evacuation, Moody said. Bus routes out of Nisichawayashik were ground to a halt between 10 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. on Sunday after the road was closed because of the threat of the wildfire. "It's a concern for the community and for our people," the deputy chief said. Highway 391 remains closed to passenger traffic and is only open for emergency vehicles and evacuees, the province said in a news release at around 12:30 p.m. Sunday. The latest data from Manitoba's wildfire services map shows at least two wildfires burning north of Nisichawayasihk— also known as Nelson House — including one that has grown to over 46,000 hectares by Saturday. According to the province's latest fire bulletin, issued Wednesday, the Manitoba Wildfire Service was responding to 127 active wildfires across the province, which has seen a total of 351 wildfires to date, well above the average for this time of year of 276. 'A terrible summer' For about 600 residents in Nisichawayasihk, this is their second evacuation in less than a month. The Cree Nation declared a state of emergency in July due to heavy smoke billowing from wildfires and polluting the air. Hundreds of vulnerable residents, including dozens living in a personal care home, were evacuated from the community. But most of the 600 evacuees had already returned home by last week and now they are being forced out of their homes once again, Moody said. "It's been a terrible summer," he said. "People have been breathing the smoke pretty much the whole summer, [we] don't know what the impact is gonna be … long-term for people's health. A lot of our people are asthmatic [or] have respiratory issues." The evacuations at this time have mostly been co-ordinated by Nisichawayasihk with support from the Red Cross and Indigenous Services Canada at this time. While some evacuees will stay at a monastery, the majority of evacuees will go to the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg, where the province has set up one congregate shelter. "People are stressed out, people don't want to leave their communities, they don't know what's happening," Moody said. "People are scared when they leave their homes … they fear the unknown."
CBC
03-08-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Wildfire, smoke forces evacuation of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation
Social Sharing Wildfires in northern Manitoba are forcing thousands of residents from a First Nation out of their homes over poor air quality and concerns that flames might engulf the only road access to the community. Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (NCN) was put under a mandatory full evacuation order on Saturday. Deputy Chief Marcel Moody told CBC News roughly 300 priority residents — including seniors, children and people with underlying health conditions — have so far left Nisichawayasihk for Winnipeg. "I've never seen anything like this in my entire life," Moody said. "The smoke situation has been terrible all summer … it gets worse at certain times, and we are scared the road might be closed." By Sunday morning, more than 3,000 residents were still in Nisichawayasihk. The expectation is most of the residents waiting to be evacuated will be out in the coming days. "We want to do this as quickly as possible to make sure that nobody is stuck," Moody said. "It's a tough task, but we have to do it." One of the closest wildfires is burning about half an hour away from the Nisichawayasihk, Moody said, and there are fears wind might fan the flames toward the road that connects the community with Thompson, about an hour's drive away, and engulf Highway 391, the only land access point in or out. Closure of the road because of the wildfire has already slowed down the evacuation, Moody said. Bus routes out of Nisichawayashik were ground to a halt between 10 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. on Sunday after the road was closed because of the threat of the wildfire. "It's a concern for the community and for our people," the deputy chief said. Highway 391 remains closed to passenger traffic and is only open for emergency vehicles and evacuees, the province said in a news release at around 12:30 p.m. Sunday. The latest data from Manitoba's wildfire services map shows at least two wildfires burning north of Nisichawayasihk— also known as Nelson House — including one that has grown to over 46,000 hectares by Saturday. According to the province's latest fire bulletin, issued Wednesday, the Manitoba Wildfire Service was responding to 127 active wildfires across the province, which has seen a total of 351 wildfires to date, well above the average for this time of year of 276. 'A terrible summer' For about 600 residents in Nisichawayasihk, this is their second evacuation in less than a month. The Cree Nation declared a state of emergency in July due to heavy smoke billowing from wildfires and polluting the air. Hundreds of vulnerable residents, including dozens living in a personal care home, were evacuated from the community. But most of the 600 evacuees had already returned home by last week and now they are being forced out of their homes once again, Moody said. "It's been a terrible summer," he said. "People have been breathing the smoke pretty much the whole summer, [we] don't know what the impact is gonna be … long-term for people's health. A lot of our people are asthmatic [or] have respiratory issues." The evacuations at this time have mostly been co-ordinated by Nisichawayasihk with support from the Red Cross and Indigenous Services Canada at this time. While some evacuees will stay at a monastery, the majority of evacuees will go to the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg, where the province has set up one congregate shelter. "People are stressed out, people don't want to leave their communities, they don't know what's happening," Moody said.
CBC
09-07-2025
- Health
- CBC
300 vulnerable residents in Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation still waiting to be evacuated: deputy chief
Social Sharing Hundreds of vulnerable residents in northern Manitoba, including dozens living in a personal care home, are still waiting to be evacuated as smoke from multiple nearby wildfires shrouds Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation. The First Nation declared a state of emergency on Sunday afternoon due to heavy smoke from the surrounding fires. As of Tuesday night, an evacuation order had not yet been issued, but the community is trying to get its more vulnerable residents out due to the smoke. "On Sunday, smoke in our community was so heavy [that] you couldn't even see our neighbour's house. That's how bad it was," Deputy Chief Marcel Moody told CBC News on Tuesday. "The conditions are so terrible. It's frightening," he said. The closest wildfire to the community has burned about 10 hectares near Notigi, just under 30 kilometres away from Nisichawayasihk, according to a fire status report from the province. The First Nation is located about 60 kilometres west of the city of Thompson, which declared its own state of emergency on Monday. An out-of-control fire north of the city was 5,900 hectares as of Monday, the province said. Moody said Nisichawayasihk's council has been trying to evacuate all 24 residents of the community's personal care home since the state of emergency was declared. Those individuals are considered Priority 1 evacuees and will be the first to leave, he said. But Nisichawayasihk council said in a Monday news release that the residents, the majority of them wheelchair users, have been left in limbo after staff from the Canadian Red Cross and Indigenous Services Canada told leadership that there were no hotel rooms available anywhere in Manitoba. Moody said Red Cross and Indigenous Services officials also told them there was nowhere to send evacuees in Alberta, British Columbia or Ontario. Moody said council is trying to find accommodations for about 300 high-priority community members, including elders and people with respiratory conditions, chronic health conditions and mobility needs. "I want to make sure people are safe and healthy, and they're not compromised by the smoke in the community," he said. "People are impacted by the smoke and they want to go." In a statement to CBC News, a spokesperson for the Canadian Red Cross said it could not speak directly to the organization's efforts to help Nisichawayasihk evacuees, but spoke generally about support provided to Manitobans affected by wildfires. "Once Red Cross support is requested by community leadership, then Canadian Red Cross works closely with Indigenous leadership and provincial, municipal, and federal governments to assist with support and services for individuals, families, and communities," the Red Cross spokesperson said. The provincial government said it has met with Nisichawayasihk's leadership and aid partners to try to get evacuees to hotel rooms or congregate shelters in some cases. CBC News asked Indigenous Services Canada for comment but did not receive a response before publication. Threat from smoke 'very real': U of M prof The community is not in imminent danger of the fire itself, but as people across Manitoba experienced this week, poor air quality due to wildfires can cause coughing, irritation, wheezing and chest pains. Those effects are more acutely felt the closer you get to the fire zone, says University of Manitoba associate professor Chris Pascoe, who specializes in respiratory diseases like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. "Right at the site of the fire, or near the fire, the levels of these particulates can get to the point where respiratory symptoms and health concerns can set in very quickly," Pascoe told CBC. "If we're feeling it in the city [of Winnipeg] as it's blowing through, I can only imagine what it's like to be right near that," he said. Pascoe said there's evidence that young people who are exposed to ongoing wildfire smoke are more likely to develop frequent lung infections, and are at a greater risk of developing asthma or other respiratory diseases. Exposing people who already have chronic respiratory or heart conditions to wildfire smoke may make their symptoms worse, Pascoe said, requiring more extensive medical treatment than usual. "The threats of health concerns around particulate matter are very real," he said. As of Tuesday, Nisichawayasihk Deputy Chief Moody said he and council are still waiting to find out where the 300 high-priority community members, including the 24 care-home residents, will be sent. "Hopefully we don't have to move … everybody, but if we have to, we will. But right now our focus is on the most vulnerable people," he said. There are more than 3,000 people living in the First Nation, which only has one main road out and no airport. "There's lots of smoke, and we're scared that [if] the fire comes towards our community … we might get locked in," Moody said. Until then, he said Nisichawayasihk will be waiting for an answer from the Red Cross and Indigenous Services — and hoping for rain. "I think they're forecasting for some rain over the weekend. Hopefully we have lots of it," he said. Thousands of Manitobans can't go home as wildfires burn 4 hours ago Duration 1:31 Areas in northern Manitoba remain at risk as wildfires burn out of control. On Tuesday, hundreds more left their homes behind, not knowing what they will come back to. Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from anywhere in Manitoba or email 211mb@
